| Ipswich Town 1 v 1 Leicester City SkyBet Championship Tuesday, 26th December 2023 Kick-off 19:45 |  |
Ipswich Town 1-1 Leicester City - Match Report Tuesday, 26th Dec 2023 21:52 Skipper Sam Morsy’s deflected 93rd-minute goal saw the Blues grab a deserved point as the second-placed Blues and leaders Leicester City drew 1-1 at Portman Road. Stephy Mavididi gave the visitors a lead in the 24th minute which was a fair reflection of the first half but Town were the better side after the break and were well worth a share of the points. Town boss Kieran McKenna made three changes from the team which lost 4-0 at Leeds on Saturday with Luke Woolfenden, Jack Taylor and Marcus Harness coming into the team for Axel Tuanzebe, Massimo Luongo and Nathan Broadhead, who all dropped to the bench. For Leicester, Conor Coady replaced James Justin, who was among the subs alongside on-loan Manchester City defender Callum Doyle, back after three months out with a knee injury. Town started brightly, Taylor finding Wes Burns wide on the right with a sweeping pass in the second minute and the Wales international sending a low ball across the area but too far in front of Conor Chaplin. On five, Burns headed wide at the neat post having won the game’s first corner before Leicester began to take charge. In the seventh minute, after the Blues had given the ball away on their left, the ball was squared to Wilfred Ndidi just to the right of the penalty spot in space but the Nigerian international completely missed his kick. It ran to Mavididi on the left but he was crowded out. Three minutes later, Woolfenden blocked a Mavididi cross and from the resultant corner on the left, which was played short, Ndidi flicked a header over the bar. Town threatened seriously for the first time in the 12th minute, former Leicester striker George Hirst, flicking a header across the face from a Harry Clarke cross following a corner on the right. The Blues were getting on top and two minutes later, Burns crossed from the right to the far post where Abdul Fatawu did very well to nod out of play ahead of Leif Davis. The subsequent corner was cleared to Taylor on the edge of the box but the former Peterborough man was unable to keep the bouncing ball down and his shot looped into the Sir Alf Ramsey Stand. On 17, there was a big blow for Town when Hirst went to ground having overstretched as he sought to get to a Woolfenden pass and underwent treatment before making his way off with the intention of returning. But, as he ran back on, the striker very clearly pulled a hamstring and sat down before leaving the field. Town were still down to 10 men, with Kayden Jackson preparing to come on, which he did in the 22nd minute, Morsy crossed from the right and Town appealed for a penalty as Coady chested back to keeper Mads Hermansen. Referee Sam Barrott had no interest in awarding a penalty for handball, which would have been very harsh. And in the 24th minute, the Blues found themselves behind. Patson Daka played the ball wide to Mavididi in acres of space on the left with Clarke following Ndidi’s run inside. As the full-back sought to get back across, the former England U20 international smashed a powerful shot across Vaclav Hladky and into the net to give the Foxes the lead. Having gone behind, the Blues went looking for a leveller but on 28 Leicester claimed a penalty when Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall broke through the middle and went to ground under pressure from Cameron Burgess. While the Australian international had an arm on the midfielder, he also a got a toe on the ball and referee Barrott looked right to have waved away Dewsbury-Hall’s protests. Town began to threaten again and on 33, following a corner, Harness nodded a Woolfenden looped ball down to Burgess but the centre-half misplaced his lay-back towards Taylor. Moments later, Taylor, Chaplin and Harness all did well to get the ball to Jackson on the edge of the box but the sub’s shot was scuffed well wide under pressure. On 36, Clarke made the challenge of the evening when he slid in to dispossess Mavididi after the forward had again been played in by Ndidi with the earlier scorer otherwise in on goal inside the box. Two minutes later, Town again gave the ball away in their own half, as they had too many times during the first half, and this time Mavididi played in Ndidi but the advancing Hladky saved the former Genk midfielder’s effort at goal with his chest. In the first of four additional minutes, Harness sent Davis away on the left and the full-back crossed low towards Burns breaking at the other side of the box, but Wout Faes turned it behind ahead of the Welshman. Town kept the ball in the Leicester final third, however, with Harness and Davis causing more problems on the left and the ball almost falling to Chaplin. In the next phase of play, Harness just overhit a ball aimed at playing in Jackson. The Blues were ending the half strongly and moments before the whistle, Chaplin’s header looped back across face and wide from a corner on the left. While the first half had been far from the one-way traffic that saw the Blues 3-0 behind at the break at Elland Road at the weekend, the Foxes had been the better side and were deservedly in front. Like Leeds, the Blues had been troubled throughout the opening period by the pace of Leicester’s forwards whenever they broke forward with Ndidi making runs to join them and not always picked up. When Town were in possession, Leicester had given them little time and as a result the Blues had given the ball away too often. However, Town had caused the visitors some danger, through Burns earlier on and Davis and Harness towards the end of the half, although with Hermansen still to be forced into a save, while the loss of Hirst, presumably for a number of weeks, is a significant blow for the Blues. Two minutes after the restart, Burgess headed wide at the near post from a corner on the right when the Australian international will feel he might well have hit the target. Town continue their bright start to the period and in the 49th minute, Burns won the ball back off Faes on the right before smashing a low ball across the box which reached Davis, whose shot was blocked. The Blues had controlled the game since the restart but following a Town corner, Leicester again showed their the danger their pacy forwards had presented on the counter-attack before the threat was snuffed out. As Town themselves sought to break, Ndidi was booked for pulling back Taylor. On 56, the Foxes swapped Ndidi for Cesare Casadei. Two minutes later Leicester skipper Ricardo had his named added to the book for a foul on Taylor, then, just after the hour mark, Harness was cautioned for a clumsy foul on Harry Winks, a member of Town boss McKenna’s academy team at Tottenham. Soon after, Chaplin picked up a loose pass just inside the Leicester half and had a go at beating Hermansen from distance. However, the keeper was able to palm away, not overly convincingly, with the ball probably missing the target to the right in any case. In the 63rd minute, the Blues looked to be denied a very strong claim for a penalty. Burns laid back to Clarke on the right and the full-back crossed deep. Davis knocked it back in, finding no Town teammate, and was caught high and late by Fatawu on the byline. As the Town players and crowd appealed, Chaplin picked up the loose ball on the left and was also sent flying by Fatawu, but referee Barrott saw neither as a foul. VAR may well have judged the penalty incident in the Blues’ favour. Leicester replaced Daka with Kelechi Iheanacho. Town were growing in belief, as was the Portman Road crowd, with Leicester looking to have tired and no longer pressing with anything like the urgency they had been in the first period. The Blues continued to threaten an equaliser, Chaplin forcing Hermansen into a save away to his right in the 70th minute. Then, following the corner, Burgess laid the ball back to Chaplin from a Davis nod down but the Blues forward this time shot over. Leicester claimed a penalty in the 75th minute when Dewsbury-Hall went to ground as he chased a ball which ran through to Hladky. The Foxes midfielder had appeared to run into Burgess rather than the Town defender fouling him and in any case Dewsbury-Hall was in with little hope of reaching the ball. On 80, Town made a triple change, Luongo, Broadhead and Omari Hutchinson taking over from Taylor, Harness and Burns. Leicester switched Dewsbury-Hall for Yunus Akgun. Having made their changes, the Blues continued to look for the equaliser, Jackson seeing a shot blocked after picking up a loose pass and working himself space, then on 83 Broadhead was twice crowded out as he took the ball into the area, both times from Chaplin passes. With three minutes left on the clock, Freddie Ladapo replaced Jackson, the Blues’ last throw of the dice. In the penultimate scheduled minute, Town broke on Leicester at pace, Luongo playing in Chaplin, who fed Broadhead to his left. The Wales international cut inside Ricardo to put the ball on his right foot, but slipped as he did so. Seconds into five minutes of added time, Hutchinson got round the outside of his man down the right, took it in along the byline before cutting back to Ladapo, whose shot deflected behind off Casadei. Town had been the better side in the second half and deserved to get back on terms, and in the 93rd minute, it finally came. Skipper Morsy strode forward with the ball towards the penalty area and struck a shot which first caught Ricardo, then Jannik Vertgaard, wrong-footing Hermansen, and looping into the net to the Danish keeper’s right to send Portman Road wild. There was no time for any further meaningful action before referee Barrott brought the evening to a close. While the goal itself may have had an element of good fortune, the Blues were well worth their point for their second-half display. Having begun strongly after the restart, the maintained their ascendency throughout the period and had created a number of chances to level before Morsy’s goal, the captain’s third goal of the season. The late draw means Town are still to lose two league matches in a row under McKenna and it was perhaps important for the Blues to take something from the game in the wake of Saturday’s heavy loss at Leeds.  Town remain second, still six points behind the Foxes and now only five points ahead of Southampton - the day’s big winners having beaten Swansea 5-0 at home - in third with 10-man Leeds, now fourth, having been beaten 2-1 at Preston earlier in the afternoon. Town are again in action at Portman Road on Friday evening when QPR, beaten 2-0 at Millwall this afternoon, in Suffolk with the Blues aiming for their first double of the campaign having won 1-0 at Loftus Road in August. Town: Hladky, Clarke, Woolfenden, Burgess, Davis, Morsy (c), Taylor (Luongo 80), Burns (Hutchinson 80), Chaplin, Harness (Broadhead 80), Hirst (Jackson 22 (Ladapo 87)). Unused: Walton, Williams, Tuanzebe, Ball. Leicester: Hermansen, Coady, Vestergaard, Faes, Ricardo (c), Winks, Ndidi (Casadei 56), Dewsbury-Hall (Yunus 80), Mavididi, Fatawu, Daka (Iheanacho 63). Unused: Stolarczyk, Justin, Doyle, Souttar, Choudhury, Cannon. Referee: Sam Barrott (West Riding). Att: 29,410 (Leicester: 2,004).
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